Parent bulletin 24 3 17 by Roding Valley High School

We are fast approaching the end of term and spring is in full flow with the clocks going forward by an hour this weekend and Easter just around the corner. Thank you to all the parents who attended the Parents’ Forum this week. It was really good for the school to be able to hear your concerns and I trust that the discussions about the school’s actions have helped to alleviate some of those concerns. I am extremely confident in the ability of the Senior Leadership team to continue to move the school forward in Mr Luck’s absence. The Local Education Authority (LEA) is aware of the situation and has been very supportive of us. Internal measures have been put in place to ensure that there is capacity within the leadership of the school and I am being ably supported by all. In addition, I have just seconded Mrs Hodges onto the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to support the leadership of Teaching and Learning. Mrs Hodges is a very experienced teacher who currently leads our very successful teacher training programme and in-school CPD programme. Mr Naidoo who is a member of the SLT is currently leading the Year 10s. They will be taken over by Mr Quirk once the current Year 11s have left in the summer term. Mr Quirk is a highly experienced Progress Leader who has worked wonders with our current Year 11. For those who weren’t at the Parents’ Forum, you should know that one of the main issues raised was the recruitment of Science and English staff. This is a national issue and our situation is further exacerbated by our location on the borders of London, meaning that teachers are paid significantly higher salaries within just a few miles from us. In shortage areas we have had to prioritise our examination groups. The school is taking appropriate action to alleviate the impact on student progress. These actions include the hiring of subject specialist long term agency staff, rotation of teachers to ensure all classes have access to specialist teachers and a planned re write of the timetable to be put in place after Easter. We are also working in close liaison with Debden Park High School and Epping St Johns to effectively utilise teachers across the Consortium Sixth Form. We continue to actively recruit in these key areas. I would like thank the parents who have emailed in messages of support to the school; it is appreciated by the staff and the SLT. This week we had our Year 11 Celebration assembly where students were rewarded for their progress. It was a lovely positive event and many students are now members of the ‘Gold’ club. This club recognises achievement of aspirational targets, is symbolised by the wearing of gold badges and further incentivised by entry to a draw to win a donated ‘gold’ iPad mini. Our Sixth Form is now oversubscribed for next year and students are working hard to achieve their challenging targets for entry. We have had over 30 external applicants to date. We also celebrated students’ creative talents with the Key Stage 3 Creative Arts Evening yesterday—there were lots of wonderful pieces of art on display and some great performances given. Thank you to the Creative Arts Faculty for their hard work in putting on this successful evening. Staff and students are continuing their efforts to raise money for our Zambia project with Year 7 students organising weekly Bake Sales in the old Reception. Students and staff can buy delicious goodies at both break and lunchtimes on a Thursday. This week 7R raised £97.20. Our Sixth Form Geography students went off on a Field Trip to “sunny” Norfolk last weekend and a good time was had by all. A huge thank you to Miss Stockings and Miss Preston for leading the trip. Unfortunately, we have as a nation seen some very sad and worrying events happening in London this week. Because of this, the English Department’s trip to see Othello at the Globe Theatre had to be cancelled on Wednesday evening. The trip to the French Conference for the Y10 students went ahead yesterday which was really successful, we did take advice and made some adjustments to the travel arrangements. The trip to see Taming of the Shrew today has also gone ahead as planned. Understandably parents and students have been rather worried about the events and how this impacts on us all. To this end we have been sent some links which may be of use when talking to your sons and daughters about the events which have happened: NSPCC—for parents on talking to children about terrorism; https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-we-do/news-opinion/childrencalling-childLine-fearing-terrorist-attacks/ Childline— “Worries about the world”; https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/your-feelings/anxiety-stress-panic/worries-about -the-world/ UK Gov-“Educate Against Hate”; http://educateagainsthate.com/ Miss Hanlon in the English Department organised our Speak Out Challege this week—yet another fantastic enrichment event that our staff have put on this term. Students in Years 11, 12 and 13 will be needing to revise over the holiday—please remind them to organise their time, remove distractions, keep mentally and physically fit, eat and sleep well and have a good balance between study and fun. I am, once again, grateful to staff for offering a targeted revision programme for both GCSE and A Level during the Easter Holidays. Timetable in the body of the bulletin. Our term finishes on Friday 31st March at 1.20pm—students will be released at the end of P4 and will be free to go home and get ready for two weeks of holiday. We return on Tuesday 18th April (Monday 17th being Bank Holiday) to a busy summer term. I hope you enjoy your weekend. Mrs Jenner Acting Headteacher